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PORT PERRY "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2000-9 Weaver magnificent (as usual) in latest outing SCREENING ROOM ® © 06 0 00 By John Foote A MAP OF THE WORLD (Ve dedetx) "WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? (Levy) Sigourney Weaver's brave, ferociously brilliant performance in A Map of the World was the talk of the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, when the picture had its North American pre- miere. Critics raved about the superb work of Weaver, industry folk loved her performance, and all paths seemed to be headed towards the Oscar podium, or at least a nomination. After a release in Los Angeles and New York in December to qualify for Oscar consideration, the mak- ers of the film anxiously awaited. the announcement of the Academy Award nominations, knowing full well that the film needed at least a best actress nomi- nation for it to find an audience. But it didn't happen. In years to come, Sigourney Weaver may be discussed as one of the great under-appreciated talents in cinema. Twice her work has been among the finest of the year, and twice Oscar voters have quietly ignored her. In 1994 she was snubbed for her role in Death and the Maiden, in which she gave a startling per- formance as a tormented woman who encounters the man who imprisoned and tortured her years before. The likely rea- son her work was ignored then was that it was directed by Roman Polanski, still a fugitive in the United States. In A Map of the World, Weaver is cast as Alice, a somewhat harried woman cop- ing with her busy life in the American mid West. ; When a child in her care drowns in a pond on her property, her life becomes a nightmare; as she quietly deals with her grief, the townsfolk chatter among them- selves about her seeming lack of remorse. On the contrary, Alice is coming apart at the seams. When a fanatical young moth- er accuses Alice of molesting her son, the devastated woman is emotionally torn to pieces. Obviously the molestation charges are false, but what is astounding is the manner in which the people in the town accept the accusations as being true because Alice fails to react as they feel she should. Guilt by accusation; very sim- ilar to the witch-hunts explored in A Cry in the Dark (1988) and The Crucible (1996). Weaver's performance is what fuels the film. Although I have great admiration for the picture, it suffers from some narrative problems. However, the weaknesses seem to evaporate when one considers the stunning work of this great actress. Rarely has a performer created a character so naked, both emotionally and physical- ly for an audience, taken such chances with her exploration of the role, and demanded that the audience have faith in her. Weaver captures the anguish of a mother responsible for the death of another mother's child with such visceral raw emotion that the film becomes uncomfortable to watch. That discomfort will be particularly felt by parents, who see Weaver's character living every parental nightmare ... the death of some- one else's child while left in your care. Though there are strong supporting performances from Julianne Moore, David Straitharn, and Chloe Sevigny, this is very much a showcase for awesome talents of Sigourney Weaver. Far too often in her career she is tagged as the woman who fights the aliens in the four Alien films. Quite often it is forgotten she gave a memorable performance as Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist (1988), and was drop dead hysterical in Ghostbusters (1984). In A Map of the World, she gives the type of galvanizing performance we expect from Meryl Streep. But those who have followed Weaver's career have come to expect nothing less than genius from this remarkable actress. WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? Gary Shandling is not a great actor in any sense of the word, but there is some- thing endearing about him that works in this goofy new film. Lodged in his eyes on a permanent basis is pure panic. His eyes dance with fear for virtually the entire film, as he goes about cast as an alien hoping to impregnate an earth woman. Sent down from a distant planet where the males have lost their genitalia, Shandling arrives with a fake penis that hums, which thrills some of the girls he meets here, or terrifies them. His sights are set on a trashy woman portrayed by Annette Bening who makes a vow not to have sex until she meets Mr. Right and marries him. Well guess what happens, and, all hell breaks loose because we know (we just know!) Shandling's alien will be over taken by very human emo- tions. i Director Mike Nichols elicits strong performances from his cast, especially Annette Bening, who is a comic wonder absolutely at home in screwball comedy. Recently Oscar nominated for riveting performances as a wife quietly going mad in American Beauty (1999), Bening is given the chance here to cut loose with her very substantial comic gifts. Like Madelaine Kahn, she throws herself into the role without ever worrying about look- ing foolish. While | cannot claim to being over- whelmed by films directed by Mike Nichols, | stand awed by his talent with actors. He seems in tune with their on screen and off screen personae, merging the two together to create giddy good fun when directing comedy, and dark, harrow- ing drama when the subject calls for it. Though Nichols has never equalled the success of his first two films Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1967) and The Graduate (1967), he remains a solid, dependable director adored by actors. Elements of the film are very funny, in particular the aforementioned Bening, and Shandling's dancing, worried eyes. He is the poster boy for absolute, please- do-not-discover-my-secret-terror. 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